The Hills Have Eyes is by no means a favorite horror movie of mine despite being directed by the great Wes Craven, but it is certainly watchable with some respectable production value for the low budget along with decent enough performances.
The Middle-Earth: Ultimate Collector’s Edition set is a nice looking collection and a unique packaging that looks good on a bookshelf. The new features are fine and all and glad all of the commentaries are there, but disappointing that none of the extensive supplements were ported over.
Vanilla Sky is probably my favorite movie from Cameron Crowe, or at least one that hit more of an emotional core, although I also loved Almost Famous. The performance by Tom Cruise might not be his best but he’s in his element as is Penelope Cruz.
L.A. Story is a comfort movie, nothing overly complicated and the conflict pretty light, to go along with some of the quirky scenes. It’s just an all around fun flick that still holds up thanks to Steve Martin with both his performance and writing.
Reminiscence is a film that I’ve felt like I’ve seen before (not a pun), but beyond the familiarity, despite a respectable cast, all of whom seemed to give it their all, the core relationship between Jackman and Ferguson never gelled.
Deep Red, flaws and all, is a top-tier giallo film co-scripted and directed by horror-maestro Dario Argento, featuring some impressive gore and make-up effects.
Overall, I can’t say it enough that the original Scream is right up there with Halloween and Friday the 13th with an amazing cast ensemble and a production that overcame the odds and made an iconic movie.
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins wasn’t a big disappointment since I went in with zero expectations. Although Henry Goulding was good in the lead role, he didn’t get much to work with both with the script and supporting cast.
The Protégé isn’t quite as good compared to Anna but I still was consistently entertained even with some of the flaws, which were overcome thanks to solid direction from Martin Campbell and a good core cast with Michael Keaton, Maggie Q and Samuel L. Jackson.
Legend is an odd film compared with others directed by Ridley Scott and while the characters are thin and underdeveloped, this is almost compensated with great production design and the make-up and prosthetics are all well done.
Space Jam: A New Legacy isn’t all that good but to be perfectly fair, neither was the 1995 original, though 14/15 year old me probably loved it (don’t have much memory, must’ve been a short-lived love).
Inglourious Basterds is a standout film amongst the other greats from Quentin Tarantino with sharp dialogue and incredible performances, especially from Chrisoph Waltz.
Sometimes these modernized adaptations of classics can work or at least be bizarre and out there (see Romeo+Julet or 2000’s Hamlet) but it doesn’t seem Oliver Twist in this setting quite works on any level. As a heist film it’s bland and as suspense-thriller lacks any tension.
Breakdown is a simple but effective suspense-thriller with an amiable performance from Kurt Russell showing his on-screen charisma with very little to work with in terms of character development.
The Shawshank Redemption is a movie I really should re-watch every other year if not every year as it’s an extraordinary and perfect film from the script to direction to the phenomenal performances from Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.